DOE

President Obama, who is in California for campaign events, fundraised from key Solyndra figures last night. Via the pool report:

In the room for the $35,800 Obama fundraiser was Steve Westly, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate and one of the individuals who sent red flags about President Obama's support for Solyndra, winner of a $535 million Energy Department loan guarantee. Westly famously wrote an email urging Obama's top aides not to attend an event at the company's HQ here in the Bay Area because of Solyndra's shaky finances.

Westly was spotted by the pool as it walked through the backyard of the Delaney-Jordam home. He was juggling lemons, entertaining kids at the party. Westly later was seated in one of the tables farthest from the president as he spoke.

Pool also spotted Matt Rogers, the former DOE official who was in the middle of the Solyndra loan guarantee process. He was a many of the senior adviser at DOE who handled a good bit of the stimulus money. Rogers is now at McKinsey & Co. in the Bay area.

Solyndra and the players at the center of it have been subject to repeated GOP/Romney attack ads.

The thing is, it appears the pool reporter at last night's high-dollar fundraiser only recognized two of the 60 attendees. (Plus we know the hosts: Quinn Delaney and Wayne Jordan.) One can't help but wonder about the other 56 folks in the audience...

Chu thumbs up!

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics, takes to Facebook today to review the Avengers, a movie about a bunch of superheroes banding together to save the world, “which focuses on a new, limitless clean energy source called ‘The Tesseract,’” according to Chu.